


Omega Trade - Tex and Sarge

by Jameson9101322



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 05:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3756313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jameson9101322/pseuds/Jameson9101322
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>RvB Animated short inspired drabble. Pre Reconstruction Tex-is-a-human continuity. Tex and Sarge are trapped in an alien prison, but that torment is nothing compared to the AI trapped there with them. Will the Reds and Blues reach them in time? Or will the two most capable residents of Bloodgulch kill each other before they go insane?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Omega Trade - Tex and Sarge

When Tex's alien captors took her in, they had no idea she was in possession of the most malicious and aggressive AI construct known to man, and when she and Sarge were tossed unarmed into a remotely-monitored prison cell halfway up a forty story tower, they had no idea how close they were to their own destruction. 

"Tex, it's been a long time..." 

Tex had all her attention focused on the metal walkway just outside the confines of their cell. Sarge was busy somewhere beyond her field of vision but all she cared about was trying to ignore the Omega AI. For the most part it was working but still couldn't stop him from taking intense pleasure in insulting her strength and intelligence. Her head was full of maniacal laughter.

"We can break out of here, Tex, you know that." Omega chuckled, "we can take down this tower and use the network to bypass all the major firewalls shooting off into space to take command of their ships and bring them down on inhabited planets. Imagine the destruction; plasma drives burning off atmospheres, evaporating whole oceans and fracturing continents into tiny little pieces. Doesn't that sound delightful?"

Tex ground her teeth and concentrated harder on the empty space.

"You're a good match for me, Tex," Omega continued, "not like the other fools I've governed. You've got murder under your belt. You won't hesitate to do what's required no matter the price. I like that." He mused a slow hiss in her ear, "just follow my lead and we'll have the galaxy to ourselves." His words gleaned no response. He mused again, "you see, I've picked up some new moves since we parted."

She felt an icy prickle race down her back. It started like a rain of needles but quickly escalated to the equivalent of stabbing knives. Omega fired every nerve from her neck to her tailbone then rode the column back up to her brain where he jabbed her in the occipital lobe to fuzz away her focused stare. It worked, she closed her eyes and turned away from the bars. She stubbornly refused to acknowledge him and stared sternly at the back wall while the snow scattered.

Sarge was oblivious to her plight, focused instead on finding an escape route. He was particularly interested in the bars and tested their strength through a series of shoves and gradually throwing his weight at it from increasing distances. When none of his attempts produced favorable results, he backed up to the rear wall of the cell and got ready to push off.

Tex opened her eyes to see him braced there, "what do you think you're doing?"

"What else? Engineering our escape!" Sarge replied, "see I figure with a running start I can maybe dislodge a bar or jar the whole door mechanism so the gate opens automatically! Either way we'll be out of here in no time! Just stand back." He sprinted and rammed shoulder-first into the barrier. Unsurprisingly the bars did not yield and instead threw him staggering backward with a resounding clang. Tex rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the point on the ground outside. 

"That poor fool is going to knock himself unconscious," Omega noted, "kill him and use his armor to hack the winching system."

Tex said nothing.

"Or use his ribs as a key to open the lock. That's the origin of the skeleton key you know," he laughed, "don't believe me?"

The idea was viable and she found herself considering the crystalline circuit structure of Sarge's red armor. It had radios, a highly complex system of neural networks, proximity radar, cameras and speakers and that was just in the helmet. The atmosphere of this alien planet was toxic. He wouldn't surrender it easily, but she could rip it off his head and let him suffocate. He was distracted. It would be easy.

"There's my girl, Tex."

"Shut up, O'Malley," she snapped.

Sarge looked over, "what'd you say?"

"Nothing," Tex answered. Omega stabbed her in the brain again with his cold lifeless finger and made her hands tingle.

"Huh," Sarge studied her a moment, "I was hoping you were thinking up a strategy of yer own. I hate to admit it but I'm plumb out of ideas. They must have built these cages to hold the most vicious and powerful monsters alien nature can breed up, far stronger than any mortal man."

Omega chortled, "there are monsters in here all right."

Tex flinched as he prodded her spine again.

"Although perhaps we can go through the wall and expose some vital circuitry. Hot-wire the thing," he paced the length of the south wall, "don't see any seams. It's too bad Grif isn't here, I could duct tape him to the wall and use the incendiary device I placed in his armor to blast clear through," he sighed, "such is the cruel irony of fate."

"Yes, cruel fate," Omega agreed, "enough of this petty philosopher, Tex, dispatch him and make ready our escape. We can use his shoulder blades as shovels or rig the shields into a bomb like he said. Give the old sod a send off he'd approve of."

She ignored him.

"Still unflinching?" Omega used his access to her nervous system to cut feeling to her legs. Her knees gave out and she collapsed into the corner of the cell near the bars.

Sarge whirled around, "hey, you alright?"

"Remember, Tex? All those bloody missions we took together?" Omega reminisced in a romantic tone, "you loved the carnage, we stripped flesh from bones..."

Sarge stopped in arms' reach and looked down at her, "Tex?"

"Answer him you bleeding heart," Omega said more harshly, "ask him for a hug and if it will all be okay." She stiffened. "You've gone soft. I'm tired of cooperating with you." 

Sarge crouched next to her and gave her a shake, "Tex?"

Omega's voice roared so loudly the squealing could be heard from outside her helmet, "YOUR BODY IS MINE!"

He sent her limbs into rebellion. The muscles of her arms and legs spasmed as she fought tooth and nail to keep control. The attack overwhelmed her senses, it was like her nerves were being slowly pinched off at the ends or her spinal cord and become detached. She began twitching and shuddering all over.

Sarge withdrew his hand immediately, "what the-!?"

Her arm reached out and grabbed him by the collar. She was going blind and could barely breathe, she needed something to focus on and before she realized what she was doing she'd grabbed Sarge around the chest and focused all her energy to holding on as tightly as she could. Confused, he tried to pry her loose but found her firmly attached. The pressure alarms were flashing on his HUD and his suit was going into dive mode.

"O'Malley," she hissed through clenched teeth, "he's trying... to... break me..."

"He's breaking me too," Sarge continued his escape attempts, "what does he want?"

"He wants-" she swallowed hard, "he wants me to kill you and turn you into a bomb."

"Dirty thief," Sarge growled, "that was my idea..."

"If he gets out he'll use me to kill everything on this planet," Tex said, "I can't let him take control..."

Sarge could tell this was an extremely painful fight for her. She wouldn't last long like this, and when she gave in both of them were probably goners. The idea struck him that maybe a fresh mind would buy them some time, "give 'im to me."

She looked up to see if he was serious but couldn't tell through the visor, "you?"

"We'll trade places for a while," he said.

"I'm not giving him to you!" She protested, "you don't have training with AI, he'll take you over before you know what happened! He'll use your body like he did with Doc."

"I bet I can take 'im. No machine is a match for sheer human determination," he swelled, "I'll keep him busy and you have a crack on devising an escape strategy."

"You want me to infect you with an aggressive AI so I can think of a plan while you go slowly mad," she managed a sarcastic scoff, "are you suicidal or something?"

He was undeterred, "I take your skepticism as a challenge."

She knew this was a bad plan, but she couldn't hold out against Omega for much longer. The AI was more than willing to comply and was practically snarling for the taste of new flesh. Omega's torture calmed so she could hand him over, "okay, I'm opening a channel, but realize I won't hesitate to take you out if you go crazy."

He shrugged, "fire away."

She paused then switched her radio on, muttering under her breath, "alright Omega, this doesn't mean I'm giving up."

"Oh spare me the tender farewell, Tex," Omega chided, "we'll be together again soon."

He filtered from her head like a hot flash. She closed the connection and fell to her knees, amazed by the warm relief of having him gone.

Sarge experienced the complete opposite effect as icy fingers tightened around his neural network. The bloodthirsty voice he'd heard come from other soldiers' mouths suddenly invaded his conscious mind like one of his own thoughts.

"Why hello there, Sergeant."

Omega gave the red a good kick in the eyesight for fun. Sarge jumped back with his hands over his faceplate, seeing stars, "yeaggh."

Tex's head snapped up. It was starting already, "Sarge?"

His voice answered back in a slow twisted laugh. "Oh Tex," the marriage of accents was a garbled mess, "this is something you should not have done."

"Shut up, O'Malley," Tex responded, "I had to listen to you before, but now I can ignore you all I want and you can't touch me. So do us both a favor and can it."

"You are a skilled fighter," Omega told her, "your armor has more tricks to play with, but this body has muscle and a very weak defense." He straightened Sarge's back and raised his fists, "I can hurt you plenty."

The fists suddenly dropped and Sarge's regular drawl returned, "no you don't you dirty low-life!"

Omega spoke again, "silence you fool!"

"Silence, yourself, I don't hit girls," Sarge barked back but he was rewarded with another kick in the eyes, "yeargh."

Tex moved a few paces closer, "I told you he'd take you over."

"I knew it," Sarge replied, "I've worn him before remember? Briefly," his voice grew strangled, "when'd he learn the pin-pricking thing? Ahh..."

"That's enough," Omega huffed, "no more talk from you."

Tex sighed, "hold him still as best you can, Sarge, I'll get to work on these bars."

"Don't bother speaking, Tex, he's mine now," Omega told her, "and my plan is unchanged. Only this time the suit I'll use for spare parts will be black!" Omega lurched forward and clamped Sarge's hands around her throat. Tex's armor protected her from the pressure but the sudden impact sent her backward into the wall and made her shields flicker.

"I never thought you'd stoop to something so barbaric," Tex growled in Sarge's face, "after all we've been through!"

"You are a sad thing to waste," Omega replied, "but desperate times call for desperate measures..."

Tex held Sarge back by the shoulders, "you won't kill me like that, O'Malley."

"He's not trying to strangle you, he's goin' for the pressure seal!" Sarge shouted.

Omega hushed him, "SLAVE BE QUIET!"

Tex grabbed his thumbs to keep them away from the triggers on her jaw. Sarge could feel his hands inching up her throat, unable to stop them on his own, "knock me out!"

She wasn't sure she'd heard him right, "what?"

"Lay me out!" Sarge cried, "beat me senseless! Make me unconscious!" He struggled hard against the involuntary movement, "no brain no body, right? Just do it!"

"Fools!" Omega roared, "that won't stop me!"

Tex wound up and bashed Sarge head-first into the bars with her armored fist and he fell to the floor both senseless and silent. Tex let out a sigh, "take that, O'Malley."

He was trapped in an empty head unable to bate her, but she knew that in the circuitry he was fuming.

Tex safely opened her scanners to take in their surroundings. The lock was encrypted; perhaps if she had a cooperative AI and a way into the computer she could free them, but without something more advanced than her built-in calculator there was nothing she could do. The bars were too strong to bend and the gaps between them too small to squeeze. The walls were made of thick metal with no weak points. This prison cell wasn't for show, it was designed to do it's job well. 

Tex realized the figure on the floor had been quiet a long time. 

"Maybe I killed him," Tex wondered. She knelt by Sarge's head to take a reading. He had a pulse – and a concussion – and an extremely pissed off AI sending his suit's computer system on a rampage. She shut her scanner down and sighed again.

"You really gave your all for this mission didn't you?" she asked the non-responsive Sergeant, she grabbed him up under his arms and propped him against the wall so that he looked slightly more lifelike, "when you wake up, I'm saying 'I told you so' and knocking you right back out. It's the first peace I've had in a long time."

Tex paced around some more, looking for inspiration but finding none. Somewhat to her surprise she found herself sitting with the red soldier against the wall with her elbows propped on her knees, "well Sarge, I'm out of ideas too. With my cleverness and your stupid you think we'd have lucked into something by now. Maybe I should do what O'Malley suggested and build you into a bomb," she let her head fall back against the wall, "I'll wait for you to die first."

An hour passed and neither of them moved. Tex stared at the ceiling and waited for a sign or something to direct her out. The best plan she could figure was to wait for the Jackals to come retrieve her and attack them. Of course there was nothing she could do about that until they came for her which might not happen at all. She began wishing for a coma of her own.

Finally a groan from her companion drew her attention. She rolled to her knees next to him, "Sarge?"

He flinched at the sound of her voice.

She shook him, "are you dead?"

One hand rose to rub the impact side of his head, "everythin's spinnin'."

"I hit you pretty hard," she told him.

He was in a daze, "I don't remember..."

"It's okay," she said, "it wasn't important. What do you remember?"

"I dunno," he said sluggishly, "I think I'm hearin' voices."

"That's probably O'Malley," Tex told him, "he won't be able to speak verbally until your head clears. For now, you're stuck with him on your own."

The twilight sergeant didn't seem bothered by this, "he's saying mean things about you."

"Yeah, well, O'Malley and I have a difficult relationship," Tex answered. She had her fist ready to clock him the minute Omega spoke a word but until then the conversation, however surreal, was a welcome distraction from the quiet cell.

"I don't know anything about that..." Sarge slurred, "you seem nice to me."

"I bet everything seems nice to you," she snickered, "tell me what you know. Do you know where we are?"

His eye moved to the bars, "jail?"

She nodded, "and do you know who you are?"

"Of course I know who I am!" Omega's voice exploded triumphantly from the suit, "I am the demon who will destroy you!"

She hung her head, "it's been nice talking to you Sarge," her black gauntlet socked him in the jaw and an already sketchy consciousness flew again out the window. Tex sat back on her ankles and felt a little lonely.

Time passed slowly as Tex trolled the four corners of the cell. She started talking idly to her unconscious companion, "and that's probably the reason O'Malley's evil plans always fail. His obsessive search for power has him assuming everyone's afraid of him when really he's just annoying," she addressed Sarge knowing full well Omega was the only one who could hear her, "you reds haven't had to deal with him like the blues have, but I'm sure you can agree that his laughing and doomsday plans get really irritating." She smirked in his direction, "but enough about me, tell me about you. What's your story?" 

She paused to make room for silence, "oh so you attended the Rhodes school of Bullshit in the deep south. Were there classes in thickening your accent or did that come naturally?" She paused again, "so it's a side-effect of being an old-fashioned sexist bastard, that's too bad. I hope you don't look down on me because I'm a chick." More silence, "I'm more accomplished than your whole squad you know. I took out all three of them before you caught me." 

She reflected on that time back when she was still a stranger to the crew at Bloodgulch and running freelance with Omega and York across the galaxy. She stared blankly through the bars, "what have I done to deserve this?"

Sarge started coming around again and snapped Tex out of her reflective pity party. To her surprise, she was delighted.

"Erg."

"Hey Sarge," she said casually, "any permanent brain damage yet?"

He barely registered her voice, "whaa?"

She knelt down the same as she had before, "don't strain yourself on those hard words or anything." She gave him a shove to see how he'd react and got no response, "hey! Pay attention to me."

He didn't move. The way his breathing vented like a slow wheeze through his speakers sounded like he was asleep again, then like a hiss; he spoke. 

"Your plan has failed my dear...."

It was Omega. She balled a fist but she couldn't bring herself to slug him again and let out another of her deep sighs, "what now, O'Malley?"

"I will not be contained in this hole anymore," Omega assured her. His voice sounded tired in Sarge's mouth, "you are only succeeding in disarming defenses. A weak mind that had will is now incoherent and helpless. He doesn't even care what I do anymore. He isn't aware enough to stop me."

"You've conquered the mind, fine, but that bruised brain can't run his body," Tex reminded him, "so I really don't think my plan is a failure."

"I want out of here, Tex," Omega told her, "I want out of this cell. Everyone approved of my armor-bomb concept but no one was willing to do the deed." His voice grew more menacing, "you used to kill without a thought. Now it's just one soldier – someone you don't even particularly like – and you hesitate."

"It's different," she replied, "this isn't a job."

"It's more important than that," Omega drawled at her.

"Sarge may not be my best friend but we're in this together now," Tex told him. She finally admitted what she'd been suppressing all this time, "him, Church, everyone – we're a unit. We belong together."

"You ARE soft!" Omega said in revelation, "you're a little girl with a security blanket!" He regained Sarge's body, setting him rigid against the wall, "I'll help us both. I'll do the killing and you do the bomb making. I'll get you back to the soldier you once were!"

Tex threw up her hands, "O'Malley, don't!"

"Say your heartfelt goodbyes, Tex," Omega cued.

Suddenly Sarge was back, "Tex wait-!" His words caught in his throat as all the oxygen in his helmet was vented into the room. He gasped but inhaled a cloud of alien gasses that burned his throat and eyes. 

Tex grabbed his shoulders, "Sarge hold on!" She clunked him against the wall, "let him go, O'Malley!"

A simple command didn't cut it, Sarge clamped hands around his throat on reflex but couldn't help himself.

"O'Malley let him go!" Tex demanded, "you don't want to do that! You'll be trapped in that helmet! Think this through!"

Sarge was coughing to rid his lungs of corrosive fumes but breathed them right back in. Panic was overtaking all other functions. Tex clunked him against the wall again, "O'MALLEY!" She closed her eyes, "I know what you want. I'll do it. Let him go and I'll do it. I'll kill him myself, rig a bomb out of his spare parts.... I'll do whatever you say."

"Tex!" Sarge rasped through a cough.

"But I have to do it on my terms," she said, "not like this. Let him go."

The vent system closed off and oxygen flooded back into Sarge's helmet. He drew in his first breath and hacked like a smoker to get all the foreign stuff out of his tank. Tex let go of his shoulders and hung her head. Omega spoke with Sarge's voice, "that's my girl."

"Shut up," she growled.

"Let me run a quick diagnostic on all the moving parts and we can get started."

"Whatever."

Sarge was given brief control of himself while Omega worked, "I'm hoping you have some kind of master plan here?"

"I'll try and make it quick," she replied.

He slouched on the wall, "aw damn."

"Tex!"

The voice wasn't Sarge or O'Malley. Tex sprang to the bars, "Church!"

"Tex!" The cobalt blue soldier ran to her cell with the red team members Grif and Simmons close behind, "Tex are you okay?"

"Am I okay!?!" Tex demanded, "what the hell took you so long! We're dying up here!"

"We had some mishaps," Church replied.

Sarge joined her at the bars and Simmons' voice cracked in excitement, "Sarge are you alright!?"

Grif's lilt followed, "calm down, Simmons, you'll pull something."

Tex answered the question, "he's been better."

"Release us you fools!" Omega roared from the red helmet, "quit dawdling! I have evil plans to enact and we've wasted precious time!"

Grif nearly dropped his gun, "oh my god."

Church pointed, "that wasn't-"

"Uh, yeah, O'Malley's here too," Tex said.

Sarge hung his head, "I've got such a headache."

"Don't worry, Sarge, we'll get you out of there!!" Simmons comforted.

Grif was uncertain, "I dunno, we've got O'Malley trapped..."

"GET US OUT OF HERE!" Tex and Omega roared.

"GAHH!" Grif jumped back, "okay okay!"

"Let me try and hack this console," Simmons said, examining the computerized lock, "it should just take a minute."

"Tex," Church spoke through the bars, "what about O'Malley?"

"O'Malley's in a bad mood," Tex replied, "he hasn't been very nice to either of us. I told him we'd cooperate if he left us alone."

"Cooperate in what way?"

Tex gave Sarge a glance, "I was thinking we'd let him loose in the network computer system; let him bring this place down."

"Won't he be able to jump anywhere from there?" Church asked, "we'll never find him."

"We'll just have to deal with it later," Tex resolved, "that's what he wants."

"There!" Simmons punched 'enter' and the bars slid back from the door. The two inside gladly joined the three outside. Simmons approached his leader proudly, "you better now, Sarge?"

"No I'm not better!" The red shouted, "get this damned thing out of my head!"

Tex grabbed him and towed him to the console, "okay, O'Malley, we're gonna let you go. Just promise me you'll let us out alive and you can have as much fun in this system as you want."

Church was aghast, "Tex don't!"

"Stay out of this, Church!"

"But wait," Simmons interrupted, "that console can't-"

"Can it, Red!" Tex hissed, "everyone just shut up and let me do this."

Simmons protested, "but that console's -"

Tex turned punched him.

"Ow the front of my face!"

She shoved Sarge to the ground and forced the console's input cable into the back of his helmet. The sudden jolt of electricity followed by the spike in temperature as the AI retreated shook him with a flinch from head to toe. The console bleeped out a malicious laugh, "you fools! You have enabled your own demise! I'll disarm the plasma core in this building and blow you all to kingdom come – wa – wait." The pomposity faded immediately, "how do I get out of this thing?"

"That's what I've been trying to say!" Simmons said, "I had to isolate the console to get you guys out. There's no way for it to connect to the network, it's irrevocably damaged!"

Church looked at Tex, "you knew that?"

"Of course," she answered.

The console buzzed in irritation, "curses!"

Tex knelt down and gave Sarge a poke, "you alright?"

He shook his head, "I'm getting' too old for this."

She smiled behind her visor and pulled him to his feet, "you're 100% codger from now on. You've done your time." She dug in the console and removed the hard-drive where Omega was trapped. She tested the weight in her hand and was more than satisfied, "alright, I'm ready. Let's go."


End file.
